Hi Andrea,
Thankyou for your lovely words and some help in the direction I can take
here. Do you have specific information/data/policies you will be referring
to when writing to the hospital re your recent awful circumstance? I would
really like to include information other than the emotive stuff I felt.
Many thanks,
Sue
> Hello Sue,
>
> We are all aching in our hearts from reading you story- it is one we all
> have encountered and it is intensley frustrating, harrowing, unfair and
> inhumane.
>
> Last week I accompanied a friend of mine to a birth in our local hospital
> and the staff we ecnountered there were awful. The parents have called the
> initial midwife who greeted us "the Russian Hitler" - she behaved in
> excatly the same ways that you described. I was considering how we were
> going to get rid of her anf find another one when a Kiwi midwife arrived -
> plain sailing from there on.
>
> I am going to write to the hospital today to describe what I see as
> violations of human rights. I will be pointing out the specific problems we
> encountered and requesting that they immediately update their staff on
> women's rights, the legalities of rigid policies, basic skills that enable
> women to remain upright and active while checks are done and improving
> communication. If nothing changes rapidly, then I am prepared to take this
> a lot further....
>
> Perhaps you could do the same. You have already written your letter (to the
> list) and it would be easy to send it to the hospital - several departments
> so that they cannot fob you off. If no-one knows what went on, they cannot
> do anything about it, and you owe it to them to point out what a tricky
> legal position they are potentially creating for themselves. Sending them
> your report will also help you to feel that you have done something
> positive and that some good may come from this terrible experience.
>
> I hope that with a bit of space and time to recover (and more debriefing if
> necessary) you'll feel strong enough to keep going in some way. Women can't
> afford to lose advocates like yourself, and we are all poorer as a
> community when the caring souls and sensitive beings depart the scene.
> There will be some good that comes out of this experience .....
>
> With best wishes,
>
> Andrea
>
>
>
>
> At 09:44 AM 6/01/2003, Sue Cookson wrote:
>> Hi Lieve,
>> Just thought I'd respond to your comment about not going with couples into
>> hospital - I take it that means if a transfer is needed.
>> In 1995 a policy was brought in that any health professional could report
>> anyone to the Department of Community Services, it seems that birthing
>> unassisted or attended by anyone but a registered midwife is putting your
>> baby 'at risk' and warrants reporting, as does {dirty} lotus births and
>> probably a range of other things - maybe not taking all the 'advice' you are
>> bullied into will become one. This did occur to one couple I know of
>> earlier this year, and DOCS, as underfunded and overworked as they are, did
>> visit the couple who now have a permanent file on themselves.
>>
>> We all know that there is no law in Australia to make it illegal for couples
>> to choose to give birth on their own or with chosen support people like
>> there is I believe in France, and has been in England. But as I said in my
>> initial letter of grief to this ozmid line, the blinkered beliefs of the
>> medicalised system of childbirths leads to all sorts of bother for those of
>> us who wish to negotiate our way through the maze of ritualised medical
>> assault. Reporting couples to DOCS is another form of that.
>>
>> So if the couple is accompanied harassment can occur. If the couple is not
>> accompanied, ... same thing... in this area anyway. And having supported
>> another couple in the same hospital only 2 weeks before to a terrific birth
>> well supported by the medical team, I wasn't too worried about staying with
>> them.
>>
>> I have over the years attended quite a few hospital births, but believe me,
>> this one was the worst of the worst.
>>
>> Sue
>>
>>
>>
>>> Dear Sue,
>>>
>>> I think I understand your feelings trough and through. I worked in a
>>> hospital for 20 years . They kicked me out because I was always
>> fighting for
>>> the parents, to keep medicalisation off and to get some of a breastfeeding
>>> management.
>>> Then I started as independent midwife and the first years I continued
>>> fighting the rules in the hospitals I met. It caused me a lot of pain and
>>> struggle and periods of disencouragement. The looks, the comments, the
>>> gossips behind my back, I know it all. I got out of energy and thought
>> about
>>> quitting my midwifery.
>>> Last year I learned to let it go. People know I will not go with them
>> to the
>>> hospital. It was a large step for me, because I want to be with them
>> all the
>>> way, but I had to survive myself. I will do my homebirths and I am happy
>>> with every birth that goes how the parents intend it to be.
>>>
>>> We have a duty to ourself to, to survive as a midwife and as a human.
>> We are
>>> not superwoman.
>>> It will be a pity when you leave the list, just when you need so much the
>>> support of those who meet the same things. Maybe you can find a way
>> yourself
>>> by sharing your grieves to live with the situation and to make something
>>> good of it.
>>>
>>> I wish you a lot of strength to live with things you can't change at the
>>> moment and be sure, you change things although you are not always aware of
>>> it, just by your way of thinking and being.
>>>
>>> Much love and support
>>> Lieve
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
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>
>
> -----
> Andrea Robertson
> Birth International * ACE Graphics * Associates in Childbirth Education
>
> e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> web: www.birthinternational.com
>
>
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